A Merseyside town centre saw a huge fire sweep through a supermarket, causing "chaos".
A blaze ripped through the upper floor of Lennon's supermarket on Ormskirk Street, St Helens in June 1968. Papers at the time described "chaos in the streets".
According to local historian Stephen Wainwright, Frank Lennon established Lennon's as a grocer around 1915 when he opened a small shop in Park Road in Parr. Later his sons Terence and Dennis inherited the firm and in 1958 the brothers opened their first supermarket.
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It would be 10 years later that tragedy would strike the store in the form of fire. The St Helens Reporter on June 29 1968 said: "It was “business as usual” at St. Helens' biggest supermarket, yesterday – less than three days after fire gutted the top-floor storage area.
"As shoppers flooded back to Lennon's, in Ormskirk Street, however, detectives and fire officials extended their investigation into the cause of the blaze. The town's Chief Fire Officer, Mr. Arthur Downes, told the Reporter: “There is still a possibility of arson until the investigations are complete.”
"Lennon's opened their doors again at 8.30 a.m. after staff and contract workers had toiled around the clock to mop up the worst of fire and water damage.
"Many assistants turned up for work looking rather the worse for wear – some of them had put in many “overtime” hours with precious little sleep in a bid to prepare the premises for an early re-opening."
The first person to spot the blaze was 16-year-old Peter Gilman. He told the papers at the time: "I was going to the top floor with Eddie Webster (a workmate) when Mr. Robinson, store manager, asked us if we could smell anything burning. We couldn't, and then we approached a lift.
“The lift attendant, Pauline Lunt, started to scream. Then I noticed smoke pouring out of the warehouse and told her to get out quickly.
“Eddie ran to raise the alarm, and I went for a fire extinguisher. We were told to leave the warehouse after closing all the doors and windows to trap the fire.”
He added: “I thought of the personal belongings of staff members, and went to the staff room on the top floor. I carried as many as I could to the first floor. I decided to go back but found it impossible because of the thick smoke.
“One of the top floor windows burst and showered a girl with glass. The rest of the staff were warned it was dangerous to leave by Ormskirk Street, and they left by the back way.”
According to owner Terrence Lennon, the fire caused around £15,000, or £300,000 in today's money. Lennon's also had a bonded warehouse at Clock Face, St Helens, housing wines and spirits "worth hundreds of thousands of pounds," being "the largest warehouse of its kind in the North West." In November 1977, the warehouse was described as being "protected like Fort Knox."
By the 1980s, Lennon's opened one of its largest stores in Wavertree and announced plans to expand further with more branches farther north and in Wales. On August 19, 1981, the ECHO reported: "The new store, near to the famous landmark, Picton Clock Tower, is filling a long-felt need, according to local residents."
From the 1980s onwards, Lennon's began disappearing from our high streets, along with the Ormskirk Street store in St Helens, which now stands as different shops.
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